There were 709 readers who said the NHL will lose an entire
season for the second time in eight years.

Of those who think the season will be saved, 199 (16.1
percent) said it won't begin until November. Another 161 (13 percent) think the players will be back on the ice in December, 110 (8.9 percent) don't
believe the season will start until January and only 61 (4.9 percent) see the
lockout ending in time for an October start.

This year's lockout marks the fourth work stoppage since Gary Bettman
became the NHL commissioner.

In 1992, there was a 10-day work stoppage that caused 30
games to be postponed but none were canceled.

In 1994-95, a 103-day lockout led to the cancellation of 468
games but the season started on Jan. 20 and each team played an abbreviated
48-game schedule.

Then, of course, there was the 2004-05 lockout, when the NHL
became the first (and only) North American professional league to see an entire
season wiped out by a labor dispute.

Given how relatively fresh that is in the mind of NHL fans,
perhaps it's why so many MLive.com readers think the 2012-13 season will be
wiped out as well.

"I think we lose the
season yet again," wrote reader greggyj. "If that happens, have fun with crowds
around the country that look just like the crowds in Phoenix for Coyotes games.
The NHL AND NHLPA are to blame for this. The league has been rising in
popularity, ratings are up, and the play has been great. Time to screw it up
with another lockout."

Some fans have said they'll
turn their backs on the NHL forever if another season is canceled by a labor
dispute.

"I love hockey, the Red
Wings team entity past and present, and most of the current and former Red
Wings players, but I'm ready to move on," Nameless_One wrote. "I detest the
current NHL management so much, that'd I'd rather just 'remember the good times'.

"What we have left is a
league that I just want to see die. I didn't feel this way even 2 months ago. I
enjoyed the NHL, with all it's shortcomings, but I just don't anymore. I really
want to see it fail, because I think someone else can do it so much better.
Another league, using the same players I love, could rise from the ashes of the
NHL."

When the lockout began with
the expiration of the old collective bargaining agreement at midnight Sept. 15, many
players began making plans to play elsewhere.

Given that the players
have other options, reader mugger thinks the NHL Players Association might dig
its heels in and refuse to give the owners the concessions they're asking for even
if that's not what's best for everyone.

"I can see the season
lost," mugger wrote. "Players going overseas to play are showing the owners
that they will play for much less. Owners need a larger piece of the pie just
to keep up with the rising costs of doing business and they realize up can't
continue passing the costs on the ones that purchase tickets. NHL has no major
TV contract like baseball has so I hope Fehr isn't leading the players down the
wrong path."

One thing many observers thought would keep the lockout from
lasting the entire season is the sixth annual NHL Winter Classic, slated for
Jan. 1 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

The NHL hopes to attract a world-record crowd of 115,000 to
watch the Red Wings play the Toronto Maple Leafs and speculation was the NHL wouldn't
jeopardize losing the millions of dollars the game would produce.

Despite that, reader Bill Smith thinks the lockout will end
in time to save the game in Ann Arbor.

"The season will start
before the winter classic," Bill Smith wrote. "It's all about money and the
winter classic will not only lose them money but give them a black eye in the
US market where they see $$ everywhere."

Then there are readers like Andrew Jones, whose interest in
the NHL has continued to dwindle since the last lockout.

"I'm past the point of
even caring," Andrew Jones wrote. "For the last 5-6 years I've checked the box
scores and watched a few playoff games but overall my interest in hockey has
waned since peaking in the 80's and 90's. The clutch, grab, trap, dive,
over-expansion and pansification era really made me tune out."

What do you think?

Will the lockout end in
time to save the Winter Classic or are we looking at another
winter without any Red Wings hockey?